When Leonina Heringer arrived to the United States in 1986 as an illegal Brazilian immigrant, she immediately began looking for a job.
Cleaning homes, she soon discovered, offered her flexible hours, a lack of scrutiny regarding her legal status and, more importantly, a solution to her language barrier. More than two decades later, hundreds of house cleaners in Massachusetts depend on the same formula to make a buck.
The result has been a growth in the number of people looking to hire house cleaners in the Boston area, as well as an increase in the number of cleaners conducting business from home.
Today, housecleaning is the number-one occupation for the women of Massachusetts’s large Brazilian immigrant community, said Monica Chianelli, co-founder of Vida Verde, a Brazilian house cleaning co-operative aimed at recruiting house cleaners to use environmentally friendly products. Formerly based in Somerville, the agency operates out of Allston.
“This business, the whole enterprise … is basically word-of-mouth,” said Alex Pirie, coordinator for Immigrant Service Providers Group/Health, an organization studying the occupational health risks of immigrant employees in Somerville.
Although there is no specific reason why Brazilian house cleaners are the dominant cleaning group, Pirie said there is a persistent pattern of immigrant families passing down their line of work. Often, one sees daughters and aunts of Brazilian cleaners getting into the cleaning business, he said.
“They tend to be group-specific as well, in terms of immigrant jobs,” he said. “It ripples out … It clusters,” he said. “And there are many more Brazilian cleaners than any other group in Somerville.”
There are at least a dozen cleaning services within Somerville’s 4.1 square miles. With dozens of local businesses and private cleaners popping up in other parts of the state within the last 20 years, the industry shows little signs of slowing down, particularly when cleaning homes and offices is no longer a luxury but a necessity for people of all financial backgrounds, said Danielle Gallegos of Gallegos Cleaning.
“With the demand of both persons in relationships working, there isn’t as much time for all household jobs to be completed,” she said in an e-mail. “And people enjoy coming home to a clean house.”
As a result, Gallegos said clients from all over the socio-economic map have hired her.
“Some are married with children, some are single parents, some are elderly and some just live by themselves,” she said. “Everyone having the same desire … wanting a clean home.”
Heringer, a Somerville resident, said when she first came to the United States, it was more difficult for cleaners to venture into the industry independently. Many turned to larger cleaning-service chains for immediate work.
“When I first came here, we first worked for companies,” she said. “And there were still some Irish ladies in the business.”
Many Brazilian women, and a small percentage of men, go into the cleaning service industry under the notion that knowing little or no English will not play a factor in their ability to find work, said Brazilian Women’s Group co-founder Heloisa Maria Galvao. Originally based in Somerville, the organization aims to promote political and cultural awareness of the Brazilian community.
“A lot of women and men go into this business,” she said. “They think they don’t need the language skills.”
Heringer, who runs a small business called Heringer Cleaning, has two other Brazilian house cleaners working for her. They both speak very little English, which Heringer said makes it difficult sometimes for her to book them with certain clients who request their house cleaner speak English.
In fact, many potential clients are growing wary of house cleaners who speak no English, said Melissa Tolman, a private house cleaner from Melrose. She said clients often hire her after they complain about their difficulty in communicating with their last cleaner.
“I definitely disagree with language not being a big issue,” she said. “A lot of my clients immediately ask me if I speak the language.”
Tolman said she advertises her services through www.craigslist.org, an online networking site that updates job listings daily. Many private house cleaners utilize community Web sites like craigslist for free advertisement. At any given time in the day, there are dozens of new postings from various people, many of whom list their private cell phone numbers and e-mails to conduct their business.
Tolman, who often receives last-minute phone calls for cleaning services, said there is also a surging popularity in cleaning empty houses for real estate companies before they go up for sale.
Heringer said although business has been steady for several years, a post-9/11 world proved difficult to adjust to, particularly in a business that depends on the economic steadfastness of others’ income. Many of her clients had stopped requesting cleaning services.
“It was better a few years ago,” she said.
Heringer said although she also considers the cleaning industry in Massachusetts to be competitive, she can identify the general makeup of its employees, identifying other immigrant groups who are tied to general work, such as Vietnamese immigrants in the floor finishing industry.
Tolman said the flexibility of the non-existent “9 to 5” schedule that comes with house cleaning is a big pull for many people who break into the business. That flexibility includes emergency workdays off and scheduling cleaning hours to time slots that are convenient for the cleaner, especially if they have spouses and children to look after.
“It is definitely a great advantage,” she said. “You do make your own hours.”
In many instances, there are no job certification opportunities in the U.S. for undocumented immigrants, so many are limited to finding a lower-paying job than they had in their respective countries, Pirie said.
There are a lack of studies and surveys available with a definitive account on the number of undocumented house cleaners in Somerville, particularly because many undocumented immigrants fear revealing their status, Pirie said.
“There are no definite answers,” he said.
Small business owners such as Heringer, who have been in the industry for years, aim to expand their entrepreneur business and clientele list by organizing more employees under their business name. This usually works to their benefit if there are language barriers they can help mediate.
Heringer said work often fluctuates, particularly with business being slower in the summer due to clients going on vacation. As people find themselves with dirty homes when preparing for holiday celebrations, winter and Easter are the busiest times for last-minute calls.
Pirie noted Boston-area people don’t ask about the legal status of the folks cleaning their homes, and that’s part of the reason there are no hard-numbers of those working in the business illegally.
Vida Verde, which is a side project of the Brazilian Women’s Group, supports Brazilian house cleaners in jump-starting their professions. Many house cleaners said immigrant cleaners are susceptible to problems if they go into the business alone, particularly with the language barrier. But Chianelli, who invites consultants to present workshops on running a business, said success comes with learning English.
“We want to help them start their own business,” she said. “Because there’s exploitation … We try to break the barrier.”
The co-op has met with a strong reception, Pirie said.
“They feel empowered, because of the economic shift,” he said. “The market potential for this group is great. It will give them a competitive advantage.”
While Heringer said she would like to retire soon and focus more on her writing, which include pieces about her life in the U.S, ultimately the industry’s overall efficiency, flexibility and pay have kept her and others stuck to the cleaning.
“It’s a good business,” she said. “It’s also good money.”